For the last 15 years, the Women's Film Preservation Fund has awarded grants to save a remarkable spectrum of American films in which women play key creative roles—films by early feminists, women of color, and social activists whose works embody a unique and irreplaceable part of our nation’s cultural legacy, which would have disappeared without our support.

This year, we are delighted to have received the 2012 Anthology Archives Preservation Honors Award in recognition of our work in the field. In fact, we share a love of film with an industry which, from its very first days, has owed an enormous amount to the contributions of innovative women directors, cinematographers, editors, writers, actors and others in the field. But too few of these women are known today. Too much of their work has been lost or ignored.

The mission of the WFPF, the only fund of its kind in the world, is to reclaim the cinematic heritage of women filmmakers. The cost to preserve a single title can range from $1,000 to over $100,000, and we need you to be a part of our ongoing efforts.

This is a race against time! Half of all movies made before 1950 have already eroded beyond recognition because of the unstable nature of their film stock. Even some recent films are already damaged beyond repair.

Since 1997, the Women’s Film Preservation Fund has saved over 100 films. We hold screenings of these restored works at venues such as New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Tribeca Film Festival. In this way, audiences are able to view the films often for the first time. There is a complete list of films we have helped to preserve here.

NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.